Donâ€™t fear rejection

Success is not measured by how high you go in life, but how you bounce back after you fall down.

In the selling profession, there are more rejections than approvals.

Even the best salesman cannot sell to 100 per cent of his prospects.

For the amateur salesman, rejection becomes very stressful and he may take it personally. This will lower his self-esteem, resulting in de-motivation and inaction.

Just because a person has said no to buying your product today does not mean that he will not buy it in future.

It could be because the customer may not want to buy the product at that particular period of time.

Law of averages

The law of averages can be explained by the risk-and-reward ratio.

If the client feels that the risk is greater than the reward (trust) in dealing with you, your chances of closing the sale go down.

The reverse is just as true. If the reward (trust) is greater than the risk for the prospect, your probability of closing the sale is higher.

Your objective is to reduce the risk factor and increase the reward factor, which will raise your closing ratio and improve your average.

But just as a client considers the risk-and-reward ratio, the salesman himself also faces the risk of rejection every time he makes a call.

If he focuses on the reward, his chances of remaining motivated are higher because, let’s face it, every rejection does hurt one’s self-esteem.

Rejection can be intimidating and shake the confidence of even a seasoned sales professional.

Fear of failure

Fear of failure is worse than the failure itself. In fact, it drags a person to failure. Whether the client will buy from him or not is a question that might be constantly nagging the mind of a salesman.

This increases the worry of whether he can sell the product to the customer or not — raising self-doubt, which leads to more failure and starts off a downward spiral chain reaction.

Negative people are driven and controlled by fear, which, most of the time, may be imaginary and leads them to expect failure.

They tell themselves: “I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it!”

They prove themselves right and failure becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Is it luck?

To amateurs, meeting targets and deadlines is stressful and de-motivating.

Bad sales staff are always on the verge of quitting the company or waiting to be asked to leave the company.

Winners do things despite problems, but losers permanently make excuses. They always wait for things to happen, they never make things happen.

Lose that loser’s profile and stop wasting time waiting for inspiration.

Achievers and non-achievers are given the same time (24 hours a day), same company, same product.

Yet why is it only 20 per cent of the sales professionals make 80 per cent of the sales?

Here are some nuggets of wisdom to help you break out of the loser’s profile:

Mental toughness

Note the sign of a good professional — whether it is a good day or a bad one, his output and performance is constant.

On good days, it comes easy, but on bad days, it takes a lot of effort. High-performing professionals do not compromise on quality and standards.

To them, “no” means “next opportunity”. That is called mental toughness.

Confidence

Have you ever wondered why some people pay more attention to some sales staff and less to others?

The salesman’s self-confidence makes the buyer feel that the seller has something important to say, and is more likely to give him uninterrupted and undivided attention.

Persistence

Persistence is the ability to bounce back after every rejection.

Experience shows that 80 per cent of the sales are made after the fifth call, and 80 per cent of people quit before the fifth call.

However, you have to distinguish between being persistent and being a pest. Do not be too pushy, and never nag or irritate the prospect.

There is an old saying that goes: “If you keep doing what you have always been doing, you will keep getting what you have always been getting.”

If you expect different results, it makes absolute sense to change the way you do things.

Article by Shiv Khera, the author of international bestseller, You Can Win, which has sold over two million copies in 16 languages. He is also the founder of Qualified Learning Systems Inc. USA, and is an internationally renowned speaker. Visit www.shivkhera.com for more details.